Is This Material Age Appropriate?

That's an important question, both for the curriculum writer/publisher and for those who teach the material.

Several things deserve to be considered.

• Age-appropriateness is a sliding scale; material that is too simple for some kids among its target group may be too advanced for others.
• This scale will slide even within a class of 4 students.
• Age-appropriateness can be physical (reading level, eye-hand coordination), social, or even cultural. (At what age, for example might a teacher feel comfortable teaching students about David's sin with Bathsheba? For some teachers and classes, the answer might be "never.")
• It can create as many problems for the teacher for material to be to simple as may arise when material is too difficult for the students. Discipline problems increase when students are bored rather than challenged.
• The publisher, by necessity, is shooting for a hypothetical average class; that class quite simply does not exist. Each teacher has a very specific set of students (as well as a specific room, and access to other specific resources) about the publisher has no knowledge.

What does this mean?
The teacher is in the driver's seat. He or she is going to be the final editor of the lesson. That will mean decisions about necessary adaptation of every aspect of the lesson.

Sure, you can shop around for a curriculum in which the theology is exactly what your denomination teaches, the material always bright and cheery (or thoughtfully somber) as you desire, the activities always doable in your classroom and building, the supplies required always just what you have on hand, and the level of difficulty always spot on for all of your students. And, you should know, that we editors here at Concordia Publishing House do our best to make this happen for you each week; we really do! But, in my heart, I know that you will have to make some choices and revisions.

So what can you do?

• Be thoughtful in your lesson planning. Note the alternatives offered by the publisher. Think back to what has worked for your students in the past. Be alert for the ways you can revise your lesson.
• If your class is consistently frustrated by "too hard" or bored with "too simple," consider moving down or up a level in the curriculum.
• Don't sacrifice theology, the very reason you are teaching Sunday School classes in the first place, in a chase for the "perfect lesson."

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

What Is Life Application?

I occasionally hear the criticism of our CPH Sunday School materials that they lack “life application.”

For too many customers this means “telling the students how to act and live.” That's the Law! Some would have us present the love that God shows to the world through His Son Jesus and then say to the students, "Go and do likewise." The problem, of course, is that they can't . . . not perfectly, not all the time, and maybe not at all. Our students don't need to hear more Law. They need to hear about Christ's forgiveness.

A good Sunday School lesson is one that teaches Law and Gospel. The Law is taught first; it shows the students the reality of sin, for God's people and for themselves. It points to the need for rescue from sin. Then the Gospel is presented in all its grace and mercy; God loves us, forgives us through Christ, and makes us His children.

A typical Sunday School lesson can also be outlined this way: an attention getter or introduction to focus the students on the lesson, a presentation of the Bible account with discussion that "unpacks" the meaning of the Bible text and the Law and Gospel truths found there, and an opportunity to discuss or express how the Bible account impacts our life.

If the life application section of the lesson focuses on how the students should live, it should avoid negating the Gospel message and leaving the students condemned by the Law or stuck in works righteousness.

Teach Law, then Gospel; not Law, Gospel, Law.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Can Non-Lutheran Material Teach Lutheran Students?

Does the publisher of your Sunday School material teach that God creates saving faith in Christ through the Word and water of the Sacrament of Baptism? What a blessing for those little ones who face temptation or guilt over sin to be reminded that "I am baptized!"

Does the publisher of your Sunday School material teach that we cannot earn our salvation or merit God's favor though our human effort? What a comfort for your students to know that Jesus has paid the full price for our sin and earned forgiveness, life, and salvation through His work! God loves us despite our sin and sees us as saints, righteous in His sight, because God sees us clothed in Christ.

Does your publisher teach that all of the Bible is God's inerrant Word, that God has the power to do all the wonders the Bible describes, even those that we cannot comprehend in our limited human brains? What joy that the children you teach do not have to guess whether this miracle of God is one that really happened!

Does your Sunday School material teach that Jesus is important because He is the Son of God and our Savior from sin, death, and the devil? How wonderful that your students don't see Jesus as just a moral example of how they should act and live, or a wise teacher, one of many.

If your Sunday School curriculum comes from Concordia Publishing House, you can be sure of these things. If you use material from a non-Lutheran publisher, no matter how good their marketing or flashy their material, then you have no guarantees. Why would you expect a non-Lutheran publisher to teach accurate Lutheran theology?

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word!

CPH Sunday School Comes to Facebook!

Sunday School at Concordia Publishing House now has its own page on Facebook: facebook.com/cphsundayschool. Visit regularly for news, information, and teaching tips.

"Jesus in Every Lesson" What Does that Mean?

I see this tag line used frequently in curriculum advertising. It makes me wonder . . .

What do they mean?

It's possible to have Jesus in every lesson you teach and still teach moralism.

• Some religions teach that Jesus was a great prophet but not as great as Muḥammad.
• Some religions teach that Jesus was a great teacher.
• Some religions teach that Jesus is our best example of how to live a God-pleasing life.

These religions could teach Jesus in every lesson, and still leave the students stuck in sin, condemned by the Law. They teach children to trust in the wrong Savior. They urge us to earn our own salvation through works done by our own human effort. But the Bible tells us clearly that no one be good enough to earn salvation, and no other name will save us except Jesus.

So, yes, teach Jesus in every lesson. Teach Him clearly through both Law (we have failed to live according to God's will; we have done things He forbids and failed to do the things He commands) and Gospel (Jesus suffered for our sin, died in our place, paid for our sin, and conquered death on our behalf; those with faith in Him have forgiveness, life, and salvation).

Teach Old Testament lessons that point your students to Jesus as their Savior from sin, death, and the devil.

Teach New Testament lessons that show God's love for your students in the life and work of His Son, Jesus.

But don't settle for "Jesus in every lesson" if the full truth of God's Word is not clearly present.

God bless you as you teach God's Word . . . Law and Gospel . . . in every lesson!

Let's Sing?

Do your Sunday School children sing? Your preschoolers? Your elementary students? Your junior and senior high students?

What do they sing? Hymns? Popular Contemporary Christian Music songs?

To what style of music do they respond? Live piano accompaniment? Live praise band? Full-production recorded songs? With vocals or just accompaniment tracks?

I'd love to really hear your answers to those questions, but I expect I'll have to do a survey to really get the answers. It is enough if I can get you thinking.

The Lutheran Christian congregation spends a lot of time in worship singing! Garrison Keillor says it is one of the things Lutherans do best. He claims Lutherans are trained from birth to sing hymns in four parts.

There was a time when the epitome of Lutheran worship experience was accompanied by pipe organ. My guess is this may no longer be the case.

Thesis: One goal of a child's Sunday School experience should be to prepare the child to enjoy full participation in the worship of the congregation as an adult. (Note the emphasis on enjoy.)

So . . . think about these things:

• Are your congregation's children in worship each week with their parents? If so, they are learning how adults worship and growing into that practice. How can you help them?
• Is the musical experience the children have in Sunday School (1) similar to, (2) complementary to, or (3) distinctly different from the worship experience they will have as adults? If you pick door number three, how will they ever make the transition? Are they going to enjoy full participation in worship as adults?

How you choose to do music and singing in your Sunday School will have an impact on the future worship life of your congregation.

God bless you as you teach His children to sing!

What You Are Is What You Were When You Were Ten

More years ago than I care to admit, I was challenged (near the end of a 16mm HR training film) to reflect on the impact that my life at age ten had on my "after age ten" existence. The premise of the film was that a lot of our attitudes, beliefs, and practices are imprinted at about age ten. From that time on, we don't change all that much.

Maybe that's a stretch, but as I hear it today, it has a ring of truth, at least in matters of spiritual formation. A child's attitudes about church and Sunday School, his or her beliefs about what God is like and what life with God is all about, and devotional and worship disciplines at age ten may predict where that child will be in ten, twenty, or fifty years later.

What if this is true? What would you like that ten-year-old child to be hearing, learning, and experiencing?

• Opportunities for service in the church and community?
• Sunday School lessons filled with forgiveness for sin and assurance of God's love and mercy?
• Weekly participation in worship and Sunday School as a family?

What was life like for you at age ten?

What specific attitudes, beliefs, and practices would you like to imprint on the children you teach?

God bless you as you teach His children (and their families) His Word!